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A former Marist Brother, now 79, is in court in 2018 on charges from the 1960s

Article by Broken Rites, updated 9 January 2018

A 79-year-old former Marist Brother, Kevin Joseph Jewell, is due for court proceedings in 2018 regarding indecent assaults allegedly committed against boys 50 years ago during one of his earliest Sydney teaching posts (now known as Marist College Eastwood). In those years, each new Marist Brother would adopt a "religious" first-name. Court documents don't mention Kevin Jewell's "religious" first-name but another Sydney Marist school (Marcellin College in Randwick) says (in its official history) that a Brother "Dacian" Jewell spent some time teaching at the Randwick school.

The Jewell case had its first preliminary mention in Sydney's Burwood Local Court on 13 November 2017 — case number 2017/00324154.

According to police documents, one of the alleged victims of Jewell at the Eastwood school was a boy (then aged nine, now aged 60) who was a pupil at this Marist Brothers school (in Hillview Road, Eastwood), in the 1960s. In 2017, this former pupil spoke to NSW police. Later, detectives from Ryde Local Area Command commenced an investigation and located four other men who alleged that they, also, had been assaulted.

Police allege that these five boys were all assaulted within this school in Eastwood between 1967 and 1968. [The Catholic order of Marist Brothers taught in Hillview Road, Eastwood, for many years, although nowadays the school (known now as Marist College Eastwood) is staffed by lay teachers.]

On 26 October 2017, Kevin Jewell met police at Eastwood Police Station. He was conveyed to Ryde police station, where detectives charged him with fifteen incidents of indecent assault against these five boys.

Police granted conditional bail to Jewell until his court process begins (in court, a magistrate has power to extend bail). The court's first hearing on 13 November 2017 was a brief administrative procedure in which prosecutors officially filed the case.

Jewell's date of birth is given in official documents as 15 November 1938

At the case's second mention in court (expected in early 2018), the prosecutors and the defence would discuss how the case will proceed. This would be followed by further steps in court on later dates.

Meanwhile, detectives from Ryde Local Area Command are continuing their investigation of Kevin Joseph Jewell.

FOOTNOTE:: A publication entitled "On A Winner, A History of Marcellin College Randwick 1923-1998" (by Charles McGee) has a list of Marist Brothers who have ever worked at the Randwick school. The list includes: Br "Dacian" Jewell.

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Since 1993, Broken Rites Australia has been researching the cover-up of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Too often, the church supported the offending clergy while ignoring the victims. For example, Broken Rites has shown how the church shielded the criminal priest Father Gerald Ridsdale for 32 years without reporting his crimes to the police. Finally, in 1993, some Father Ridsdale victims contacted the police. These victims also contacted the newly-formed Broken Rites.
This photo demonstrates why Broken Rites was needed. In the photo, Catholic priest Gerald Ridsdale (left, in sunglasses and hat) walks to court, accompanied by his support person (a bishop), when Father Ridsdale was pleading guilty to his first batch of criminal charges in May 1993. But no bishop accompanied the victims, who felt deserted by the church leaders. Therefore, since 1993, Broken Rites research has supported many of the Catholic Church's victims, as shown on this website. Read More